Who exactly is St Dymphna? You may have heard the name. When I served at St James church in Tupelo, Mississippi, I had some parishioners who were devoted to St Dymphna, particularly because of her role as the patron saint of those suffering from mental and nervous system illnesses. Dymphna lived in 7th century in Ireland, born to a devout Christian mother and a pagan father. Her mother died when she was a young teenager. Her dad suffered mental illness. In his delusion, he desired to marry his daughter. She fled to Europe, to current day Belgium, in the town of Geel, where she founded a hospital to help the poor. Her father found out where she was hiding, killing her in a fit of rage. There is a large church in Geel built in her honor. There have been many healings and miracle attributed to her. Dymphna is a popular saint to this day.
Our journey of faith at times is not easy. Our journey of faith can have a lot of ups and downs, a lot of struggles and challenges. Even though we have our own struggles and challenges on our journey of faith, it is difficult for me to imagine the obstacles and struggles that St Paul and his companions in the Early Church faced on their journey. We hear a lot about the journey of faith of the leaders of the Early Church in our readings from Acts during the Easter season. Paul and many of his other companions eventually died as martyrs for the faith. Yet, in the midst of his ups and downs and the periods of imprisonment they endured, they also received a lot of encouragement and guidance from the Lord along the way. Today, we hear of a vision that Paul received from the Lord one night while he was in Corinth, how the Lord encouraged him to continue in his ministry and to not remain silent. Paul remained in Corinth for a year and a half, preaching the Good News to the community there.
May the martyrs who died for their faith like St Paul and St Dymphna give us courage and inspiration on our own journeys of faith.
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